Voters approve measure to reconstruct Elliott Bay seawall

With images of severe storm and flood damage from the East Coast fresh in many voters’ minds, Seattle residents overwhelmingly approved a $290 million, 30-year bond measure to reconstruct the aging Elliott Bay seawall.
In Tuesday’s initial vote count, 77 percent of voters were supporting the seawall replacement and just 23 percent were voting to reject it.
“It’s astonishing,” said Seattle City Councilmember Tom Rasmussen. “The voters have spoken so strongly to protect our infrastructure, to move forward with rebuilding the waterfront, to keep traffic moving. It’s a great investment for the next 100 years.”
King County voters, meanwhile, were approving a six-year renewal of levy for a $119 million automated fingerprint system to assist law enforcement in gathering and processing crime-scene evidence.
“This is a very important tool that we use everyday in crime fighting,” said King County Prosecutor Dan Satterberg. “I know some people wish it could be funded in the general fund, but the special levy funding has protected the program from the kind of cuts other criminal justice programs have taken over the past five years.”
The two measures will increase property taxes for the median $360,000 home in Seattle about $68 per year.

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Politics Northwest is the go-to blog for politics in our region. The blog explores national, state and local political news and issues. Reporters from Washington, D.C., to Seattle City Hall to the state capital in Olympia contribute. Editors are Richard Wagoner and Beth Kaiman.